Flyers Sweep Northampton to Advance to 5th-Place Match at Nationals

Sandhills Community College turned in one of its most complete performances of the tournament on Friday afternoon, sweeping Northampton Community College 3–0 at the Alliant Energy PowerHouse to move to 35–4 on the season and earn a spot in Saturday's 5th-place match.

Sandhills 3, Northampton 0

(25–13, 31–29, 25–10)

The Flyers opened quickly and closed out in dominant fashion to take down the Spartans.

Sandhills set the tone early by holding Northampton to -.219 hitting in the opening frame, using strong serving and relentless defensive pressure to race to a 25–13 win. After a back-and-forth battle in set two, the Flyers emerged with a 31–29 victory behind a late surge from the front line, then overpowered Northampton in set three with a .407 team hitting percentage.

Offensive Highlights

Brooke Emore delivered a standout performance, leading all hitters with 18 kills on .343 hitting and adding 2 block assists and an ace for 20 points.

Katelyn Bunting continued her excellent tournament form with 12 kills (.296), 4 aces, and 3 block assists, tallying 17.5 points.

Sandhills hit .228 as a team, including 20 kills in the second set alone.

Setting, Serving & Defense

Setter Averi Cuddeback directed the offense with 22 assists and contributed an ace and 9 digs. Jacque Holden added 3 aces, helping Sandhills finish with 9 total aces on the match.

Defensively, the Flyers were steady across the board:

• Olivia Rosy led with 15 digs

• The Flyers out-dug Northampton 56–46

• Sandhills finished with 14 block assists, holding Northampton to just .018 hitting overall

The 25–10 third-set win closed out one of Sandhills' sharpest sets of the national tournament. The Flyers will play their final match of the 2025 season today at 2:00 PM CT (3:00 PM ET) against Minnesota West with 5th place on the line.